Storytelling Tips 1 & 2 on Irony in Terrence Malik's A HIDDEN LIFE

 Hopefully, these two short videos speak for themselves. A HIDDEN LIFE is a cinematic masterpiece of storytelling. A significant factor in it's storytelling genius is the pervasive and deliberate use of visual and aural irony. These two videos only scratch the surface of this 3 hour motion picture. 

An earlier post on Malick is HERE.

The Dilemma of Telling the Truth in Fiction

I added to this article 24 Sept 2025 (sw)

Writing true stories is a hard and dicey affair. 

Recently, I experienced a paradoxical rejection of my historical novel (The Wizard Clip Haunting) principally because it features an important aspect of all story telling—paradox. In this case a paradoxical Catholic priest. The renegade (or vice) aspects of this priest's nature are historically documented. At the same time, the heroic (or virtue) aspects of this priest's nature are also historically true. Yet, because the priest plays a central role in the plot of the story, and because he fulfills the critical narrative nature of being human (that is, imperfection, which allows readers to connect with someone like themselves), a few Catholic readers are hesitant to endorse the novel. 

This is nothing new for any writer, especially any historical fiction or non-fiction writer. The problem occurs when the subject of your story touches on the beliefs or ideologies of a social subgroup that clings to those beliefs. It doesn't matter if the subgroup is a religious faith (e.g. Catholicism), a political party, professional organization, or a cadre of social activists. You're sure to upset someone, somehow, sometime...even if you're trying hard to tell the truth.

Although there is something called "objective" truth, to every social subgroup "truth" is relative and "subjective" to a particular worldview. This is what makes telling the truth difficult. 

If you have a character that is morally flawed -- and all characters need to be flawed for the story to connect with audiences -- there will be a subgroup in that audience who will cling to an "ideal" of how a particular character should act. And when your human character, who is part of a subgroup thinks, speaks, or acts in contradiction to the subgroup's ideal, although the character is being true to his human nature, members of the associated subgroup will be offended by what you've written. 

Have you told the truth? To the subgroup you may not have told the truth...about the reader's IDEAL. But you have told the truth about the character's fallible, human character.  The criticism comes because you have not sanitized the subgroup's hero and portrayed he or she as perfect—the central problem of most Christian, so-called "faith films."  My conclusion is that if you were to sanitize the hero and make him or her perfect, you would be lying—a lie historically and a lie about the human condition. 

Thus, writing true stories is a hard and dicey affair.  The best stories that resonate with truth of the human condition do not land solidly in the ideal worldview of good and evil, like the red or black realms of the above Yin-Yang illustration. Rather, the best stories that tell the truth reside on the curved line between the two realms. This thin and chaotic border is where all of humanity exists. The Yin-Yang also illustrates the necessity of mystery and the human soul's quest for perfection—the red and block dots.

Going a Bit Further 

In an early blog post, "Can Historical Fiction Be True?", I described six aspects of telling the truth in fiction.  The second aspect describes how multiple stories of the same event can conflict, simply by the storyteller's different perspective. This touches on the logical fallacy known as AND/OR. where one person may claim that a fact is either A or B, when the truth may actually be A and B.  

While "objective" truth may exist as a heavenly ideal, human "subjective" truth becomes a paradox—an apparent logical contradiction—that through reason can be explained as plausible. As writers of fiction or non-fiction, we all know that successful stories are based on what appears to be a contradiction or great irony. For example,  a man falls in love with a mermaid—something that is logically impossible—but through the skill of storytelling the writer explains how the impossible can be possible, e.g. the hit movie SPASH.  (1984, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Tom  Hanks, Daryl Hannah, John Candy & Eugene Levy.)  SPLASH necessarily lies on the Yin-Yang border or the A&B region. 

Thus, all good writing begins with an ironic premise, because the human condition is inherently ironic. At every moment of every day we all want something...but can't have it—the 2 spheres of the Yin-Yang.  Hope turns to despair, our exhausting effort is always in need of a rewrite, love is lost, and "snakes on a plane." All good stories are about the human condition, which by definition is ironic. The good guy is sometimes fallible, and the villain sometimes noble. 

Back to those social subgroups that cling to beliefs or ideologies—where "belief" is a logically defensible, and "ideology" is a logically indefensible. Depending on the topic, the subgroup, and the perspective, what is a belief to one is an ideology to another. Yes, irony is ubiquitous. 

Truth hurts. It's the human condition to avoid being hurt, to attack those who do the hurting, or at least shun such miscreants.  But while we are driven toward the ideal, it's the paradox that gives life intrigue.

How Fiction Tells the Truth and Non-Fiction Cannot.

Fiction is necessary to convey the truth about the human condition. Fiction allows the writer to examine the heart of his characters. Non-Fiction cannot authentically write about what someone is thinking, unless that thinking is confessed and documented—a memoir  But fiction, especially in a novel, can spend hours inside the value system and thoughts of a character. This occurs when the writer delves into the psychological heart and moral truth of natural law and its effect on the character and plot. In so doing, the character, at the hands of the writer, begins to explore how natural moral law and works—not just in the physical realm (like gravity) but also in the psychological realm (like guilt). 

What is worth underscoring here is that ALL physical action is the consequence of moral decision-making. The outward dissection actions take (what we normally document in non-fiction texts), must first originate in the mind, and what non-fiction cannot access. Thus, what happens in the non-fiction sphere is a metaphor for what happened previously in the mental value sphere, the sphere from which memoirs are written and where only fiction can tread.   

And this is what makes stories so alluring to audiences and readers—they get to peek behind the curtain at the truth of what is really going on .                                                                                                                   

Billy Wilder 9 Screenwriting Tips

Let me expand a bit on this good Instagram list of nine screenwriting tips supposedly from Billy Wilder.

1. THE AUDIENCE IS FICKLE.

This does not mean, as Will Goldman famously wrote, "NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING" on page 39 of his "Adventures in the Screen Trade."  (BTW: the all caps is Goldman's, not mine.) I don't agree with Goldman on this, but it's instructive.  A drive through parts of Los Angeles or an invite to a home or two will tell you that quite a number of individuals KNOW ALOT. But back to the "instructive" part. Reminding us that the audience is fickle means that you have to stay one step ahead of your audience. Like a good horror script, there should be a surprise (a LOGICAL surprise) at least every five pages, if not three. "Fickle" could mean the audience doesn't know what it likes, but it's more reasonable to understand that the audience comes to be entertained, and that they bore easily. Don't bore. Surprise.

2.  GRAB 'EM BY THE THROAT AND NEVER LET 'EM GO.

This goes along with No. 1. Another way of saying this is to put your protagonist in jeopardy at the beginning and keep him there until the last frame of the movie. But of course, knowing that the audience is fickle means the jeopardy can rarely be the same from scene to scene. Mary Alice Moore Connealy is the author of over 70 Christian fiction novels. She specializes in romantic comedy set in the cowboy era of the American west. Mary and I were engaged in an email exchange in 2010 that I was careful to save. In it she revealed how she kills off villains. I wrote a blog HERE about it. Her Rule No. 2 is this: "You can judge how bad a bad guy is by the number of times he dies."  We see this is popular movies—the bad guy keeps resurrecting only to be killed in a more horrific way.  Aside from the catharsis rush this gives the audience/reader, it is a perfect example of how not to bore your audience (Wilder No. 1) and how to constantly keep your protagonist is danger (Wilder No. 2). 

3. DEVELOP A CLEAN LINE OF ACTION FOR YOUR LEADING CHARACTER.

 This is often the difference between a story that involves the audience intellectually vs. emotionally. When intelligent writers send me a script to critique I can easily get caught up in the obscure philosophical quest of the protagonist. But when emotional writers send me a script I don't have time to analyze the scenes, I'm too busy turning pages. Guess which movies get made? General audiences aren't looking for intellectual, philosophical, or spiritual quests (at least not explicitly). General audiences want a story that will carry them away emotionally, which means visceral, physical danger to a likable protagonist. This is why Mission Impossible and James Bond stories are always hits. [The special effects and practical stunts are not just eye candy, but rather reinforce the visceral danger as our hero tries, against all odds, to recover the hard-drive (or  similar MacGuffin) with the list of MI6 secret agents (Sky Fall)]. Bond is always in danger, and his goal is one thing only...to get the hard-drive back or stop the release of its secret list of agents.  When we send a protagonist on a philosophical, introspective journey, it's much harder to keep the story emotionally involving.  Action is clean. Philosophy is obscure. 

4. IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE THIRD ACT, THE REAL PROBLEM IS IN THE FIRST ACT. 

This is the ultimate issue involving foreshadowing. Everything that happens in Act 3 needs to be set up in Act 1. Everything in Act 3 is the effect of the Act 1 cause. My friend Drew Yanno wrote a good book on this titled, as you might expect, "The 3rd Act." It is evidently now out of print since I can't find it or him on the Internet anymore. It's a bright red cover, 175 pages recommended by Will Smith.  If your hero is afraid of heights which hinders his capture of the bad guy in Act 3, then his vertigo is revealed in Act 1. If your heroine has a problem with commitment in Act 3, then the wound that caused her fear of commitment needs to be shown in Act 1.  If the protagonist risks his life to save a child in Act 3, then in Act 1 he saves a cat. (e.g. Blake Snyder's book, SAVE THE CAT).  Yes, it's often the case that when you're writing Act 3 and inventing all kinds of cliff hangers, you are simultaneously revising Act 1. If you don't do this you risk the disastrous anti-plot point called "Deus ex machina" (link Wikipedia). Deus ex machina is the opposite of the MacGuffin. Use the latter not the former. 

5. THE MORE SUBTLE AND ELEGANT YOU ARE IN HIDING YOUR PLOT POINTS, THE BETTER YOU ARE AS A WRITER. 

This does not translate well, but here's what it means. Narrative is better than didactic. Narrative shows  what happens when a protagonist makes a moral decisions and acts on it. A protagonist can make any decision and take any action he wants. But the consequences of that decision and action are always the result of natural law, and totally out of the hands and control of the protagonist. I have written much on this topic...some blog posts are here.  This process in storytelling is much like real life. We lean lessons by such a decision-action-consequence paradigm. We learn by experience, or by the stories told of the experience of others. WE DO NOT LEARN HOW TO LIVE A BETTER LIFE BY ARBITRARY RULES, which is what didactic storytelling suffers from. You may think the Bible is full of didactic rules (e.g. The Ten Commandments). But in reality the Bible is 75% Narrative, which reveals the consequence of not following the rules. Rules shortcut your learning, but you really only learn from experience or stories. This is why Stories are the Crux of Civilization. 

A bit more of a didactic (😟) explanation is needed here. Narrative shows what happens and requires the audience in figure out the rule involved (or the moral premise at work). A didactic story reveals the rule but does not necessarily demonstrate the natural law consequence of following the rule or not.  NOT HIDING YOUR PLOT POINTS is didactic. HIDING YOUR PLOT POINTS is narrative.  The rule here is "Make your audience work. Do not tell them. Show them. Let them figure it out." Audiences love intrigue even if it means trying to figure out what the movie is really about.  (Hopefully it's about something like a true, and consistently applied moral premise.)

6. A TIP FROM LUBITSCH: LET THE AUDIENCE ADD UP TWO PLUS TWO. THEY'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER. 

This is actually a repeat of No. 5. 'Nuff said. 

By the way, Ernst Lubitsch was a German-born American film director et al. He co-wrote the Greta Garbo film Ninotchka with Billy Wilder. I'm sorry I don't know anything about this movie, but I will shortly when I screen it. What I do know about Lubitsch is that he made the audience work to figure out what was going on in the character's heart and head. This no doubt came about because Lubitsch's career began in the silent film era when directors were required to SHOW and dialogue was limited to a few dialogue cards. 

7.  IN DOING VOICE-OVERS, BE CAREFUL NOT TO DESCRIBE WHAT THE AUDIENCE ALREADY SEES. ADD TO WHAT THEY'RE SEEING. 

At the risk of repeating perhaps the best known Hollywood adage, SHOW DON'T TELL. Movies are not novels, but even novel writers know how to show and not didactically tell what's happening.  The study of non-verbal communication suggests that 80% of the message is communicated non-verbally, not with the actual words. Thus ,"I could kill you," has many different meanings.  

But back to No. 7.

I would add that you don't just want to add to what is being seen, but describe something ironic and quite different from what is being seen.  This is also the role of subtext in dialogue. Subtext, of course, is ironic in that it communicates what is not being literally heard, or it is the opposite of the literal words being used. (See this blog post on "Borders and Quarantines, the Essence of Successful Stories", and  Lesson 12 of my on-line Storycraft Training Series on "Writing Convincing Movie Dialogue." for examples.)  But back to the V.O. point: While we see a protagonist courageously and fearlessly rescue a child from a raging river, the voice over might add an ironic and intriguing twist if we hear the hero's retrospective thoughts of fear and cowardice. This adds dimension and depth to the character and makes him more believable and real like us. 

A similar occurrence takes place when you write a "Pope in the Pool" scene (see Blake Snyder's SAVE THE CAT.) A critical aspect of a Pope in the Pool scene is that the background action (the Pope trying to swim in a pool dressed in his vestments), metaphors what is being didactically discussed in the foreground dialogue. The background action ADDS TO WHAT WE'RE HEARING, or the foreground dialogue can be considered V.O. that explains didactically what is happening in the background. 

Every element adds to the narrative or its meaning.

8. THE EVENT THAT OCCURS AT THE SECOND ACT CURTAIN TRIGGERS THE END OF THE MOVIE. 

The end of Act 2 plot point is also known as "NEAR DEATH," "FAUX ENDING," "NO GOING BACK," "ACT 2 CLIMAX," and "ALL IS LOST."  (Here is a link to ten (10) blog posts that describe the classical major beats of a story as diagramed on The Story Diamond.)   The Story Diamond simply overlays multiple story structures, paralleling the labels to reveal that all successful story structures are simply different ways to describe the same thing. Thus, the second act curtain (or Act 2 Climax) is a critical and very important turning point beat that converts our warrior protagonist/hero into a martyr, who is willing to die for the noble cause, thus endearing the audience to him.  The "end of the movie" is all of Act 3, which is 25% of the story. Structure is important here. Audiences love never ending stories...that is a story that seems to have multiple endings, and the Act 2 curtain is the FIRST of multiple endings that come at the audience rapid fire and give catharsis its due.  Also related to the importance of the ending is Michael Arndt's Insanely Great Endings in a guest post by The Other Chris Pratt, followed by my analysis of Arndt's "Little Miss Sunshine."

9. THE THIRD ACT MUST BUILD, BUILD, BUILD IN TEMPO AND ACTION UNTIL THE LAST EVENT, AND THEN—THAT'S IT. DON'T HANG AROUND. 

I've written enough about Act 3 so 'nuff said about that.

But "don't hang around," is the Denouement (or "Life After") and it should be very short. Use Act 3 to tie up loose narrative ends in dramatic fashion before you get to the Denouement. See again Michael Arndt's Insanely Great Endings, and my notes on the structure of Act 3. Lesson 9 of my Storycraft Training also covers the important and fast occurring beats of Act 3. 

Moral Premise Video Podcast - GREAT IRONY

 

Natural Law and Sophistry in Storytelling

An Example of Great Ironic and Metaphoric Writing

EDWARD F. MURPHY

I have been reading Edward F. Murphy books of late. First, there was an out of print novel from 1947, "Pére Antoine: The 1770-1822 story of the most hated priest in New Orleans who became the best-loved bishop of all Louisiana." I picked this out of the shadows because I was developing a screenplay that begins in New Orleans just before the famous 1778 fire. The irony in Murphy's writing captivated me.

I next found what I thought was another novel of his, "Yankee Priest" which turned out to be his fascinating autobiography. Murphy was a poor missionary Catholic priest to New Orleans in the 1940s. He went there as one of the first professors at Xavier University. Ironically, Murphy, had very close connections to the famous Broadway actor, composer and producer Eddie Dowling, and through Eddie's friendship, had considerable affect on Broadway at the time.

Then, I came across Murphy's best selling novel, "Scarlet Lily," a fictional novel of Mary of Magdala, conceived as the harlot who became a follower of Christ.

Most Bible scholars do not believe Mary was the adulterous woman Jesus forgive, nor was she another harlot, but rather just a rich woman from Magdala whom Jesus cast out seven demons. That she was a harlot was a legend started perhaps in the Middle Ages and evident in some gnostic writings, but not supported by the canonical Scriptures or church tradition. Nonetheless, Murphy makes a good story out of it.

"Scarlet Lily" won a famous novel writing contest sponsored by The Bruce Publishing Company. Before "Scarlet Lily" was released as a novel, famed Hollywood producer David O. Selznick picked up the movie rights as his next big production after Gone with the Wind and attached Ingrid Bergman to play Magdala.  Alas, the movie was never made for a variety of political reasons, one of which that with the end of WWII, biblical epics were suddenly out of vogue. [Yes, I'm wondering, was a screenplay written? I've been looking.]

IRONY and METAPHOR

I've just started reading the "Scarlet Lily" and, as expected, I've been rewarded with great prose, and Murphy's talent for IRONY and METAPHOR.

I've written and lectured before about the importance of irony and metaphors in writing (novels and screenplays), and indeed the first of ten lessons of my on-line Moral Premise workshop is all about the importance of irony. (http://Storycrafttraining.blogspot.com). So, below is a great example from Scarlet Lily.

While Murphy finds it hard to write a paragraph, in anything he writes, without layering on irony, metaphor or similes, this paragraph is the most dense I've read...among many, many writers. So, it is worthy of posting for study and analysis. This is how you should write every line of a screenplay, every scene - - and of course this is what The Moral Premise does—it pits virtue and vice, good consequence against bad, in a single sentence. Just as you've always read that ever scene must have conflict, so every action description should likewise be written, and every doublet of dialogue drip.

SETTING

Setting: Mary of Magdala is a young, beautiful woman, who out of the tyranny of King Herold's murderous temperament, found herself in the ugly situation of being a highly prized harlot wandering the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. It's about 12 A.D. A week or so before this moment in the novel, she has inadvertently witnessed Jesus in the temple at age 12, dialoging with Jewish teachers (Luke 2:39-52). In that scene young Jesus defines for the much older teachers the virtue that hides between fear of God and love of God—reverence of God. Magdala doesn't know who the young boy is, but she's impressed—there's a glow about him.  But her pimp shows up, putting a possessive arm around her and dragging her away from the discussion, and calls on her to employ her charms to entertain a visiting Babylonia prince. After spending days in the prince's employ, the prince beckons her to leave Jerusalem and travel with him to his kingdom. She ponders the offer, telling her servant: "There is nothing in Jerusalem for me. And, for a moment, I had though there might be everything—." (even there, notice the "nothing" and "everything" in the one sentence. That's Murphy's talent.

Here is the longer pondering...every sentence on a pedestal of irony and metaphor.

THE PASSAGE

That Jehovah was great, and that his visitations were as awful as himself, Mary thought she could plainly see. But that he was lovable, notwithstanding that he had permitted a child to be born in Bethlehem over a decade ago, whose coming meant the murder of many little ones, did not appear at all clear. Every gift of his, however fine in one phase, was fearful in another. Life itself, his greatest [gift], was shadowed by death. Youth and beauty were so brief that they amounted to little more than a withering and a decay. Light sombered into darkness. Stars fell. The earth yielded thistles and thorns as well as wheat and roses. The heart, so suited to hold joy, regularly brimmed with sorrow. The jubilee of today was the sackcloth and ashes of tomorrow. What did it profit to have a warm stream of health in one's veins when the chill of certain dissolution blew steadily over it? What was spring's awakening in comparison with winter's terrible sleep? As for the towers of reason, they enthroned the rulership of fools, for kings and high priests had alike committed Israel to suffering and shame. And the bosom of Abraham — hope of the faithful! — had it not been barbaric, even as Herod's own, with a willingness to slay the innocent Isaac? Love, as an inspiration to good, was better than fear, as a prevention of evil; but how could love grow and bloom in a winter-world? Reverence was ideal; but how could it be the soul-expression of a people whose lambs were led to the slaughter and whose God, to whom sacrifices were continually made, had left the land be stripped of dignity and left it to languish under the Roman heel?  [Murphy, Edward (1947). The Scarlet Lily. Milwaukee: Bruce, p. 62.]

No Irony No Story

http://www.storycrafttraining.blogspot.com

No Limits: Ubiquitous Irony

IRONY—THE SPICE OF LIFE

Irony is the most important ingredient in all successful stories. It must be present in the story's setting, plot, character arcs, theme, style and tone.

I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.  (Jane Austen)

Irony must be obvious in the hook, the conflict of values, the moral premise, dialogue, wardrobe, landscape, and attitudes. Irony is the ever present dilemma in the heroine's mind as she can't decide to marry the guy or kill him.

Would you like me to press the wrinkles out of this shirt or burn it?  

There is situational irony, verbal irony, dramatic irony. In short there has got to be conflict in everything you write. Irony provides the emotional roller coaster that gives your reader (and you) the thrill of reading (and writing).

The meal was scrumptious. For desert let's put strawberry drool on shortcake and watch Silence of the Lambs. 

Irony supplies tension, suspense, intrigue without which you have no story.   In short, there is no limit to where irony must be used in your writing.

MULTI-LEVEL IRONY

Like multilevel marketing you can make irony work at every turn. It works to engender interest at the level of WORDS with TURNS OF A PHRASE:

Clearly Confused * Pretty Ugly * Living Dead * Great Depression * Honest Politician

Or, on the level of SENTENCES, as exampled in my opening salvo, and here:

His compliment felt and smelled like an elephant sitting on my head.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... (Charles Dickens) 

Or, on the level of PARAGRAPHS:

Fearful that God would cast me into utter darkness or subject me to dismemberment, I frequently ran ahead too quickly. I often scribbled my first name in a rush...then recognize my error.  To me it looked like I had spelled SAINT...but then friends pointed out that I had scrawled STAIN. I could only hope that the errors in my life would be overlooked as typos. But alas, all too often they were real mistakes. (from the Preface of the writer's memoir, Growing up Christian.)

Or, on the level of chapters and entire books where the characters are struggling to overcome a weakness or some vice in order to achieve some noble goal. Such techniques make use of an ironic hook and a consistently applied moral premise. Here's one from my host's 2009 novel AUTUMN RAINS (Myra Johnson):

Trusting in one's own wisdom and knowledge leads to a dreadful imprisonment; but
Trusting in God's wisdom and knowledge leads to a pleasant freedom.

I have many examples of moral premise statements that guide the writing process on a page devoted to  the listing of Moral Premise Statements.

For me one of the great proofs of the importance of irony in stories is the public's obsession with the real lives of Hollywood Stars and celebrities. The irony is their glamorous on-screen persona juxtaposed to the tragedy of their off-screen and real lives. On screen we adore Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, but we're engaged in their real life battle to keep their marriage together.

IRONY: REALTY vs EXPECTATION

The key to understanding and using irony in our writing is the ability to see it in everything around us. Back on November 17, 2014 I posted a pictorial essay on IRONY and NATURAL LAW, INSEPARABLE.

The point of the five (5) illustrated juxtapositions (in that post) was to show how, in just a few hours of careful observance what I expected and what actually happened were much different. When reality conflicts with expectations we end  up with drama, intrigue, suspense and the stuff of good stories—ta da—irony.

I'll let you visit that post later, but for now I want to get more mundane to demonstrate common every day drama and irony that literally surrounds us. What I'm going to next describe and SHOW YOU (I'm trying not to just TELL you), you can do everyday of your life. The more you do this, the more you'll find you can write ironic material that intrigues and engages your readers. So, here's what I did. On the morning I was scheduled to first start thinking about this blog post, I took a camera and walked around my house looking or irony in nature.  I was looking for things we normally think are normal, but finding in them or near them the abnormal, the juxtaposed irony, the conflict that creates tension and motivates us to action. My point is that these are mundane, nearly inconsequential. If there's irony in such lower-caste things, imagine the irony waiting to be tapped in the stuff that really matters, like people's lives.

The rose at left was probably prettier a few days before, but soon it would end up like its sisters on the right. The beautiful and the bald, part of the same plant. What character's are like that? I expect beautiful roses, but I find something else. Timing is everything,.

The patio outside my office door wall. Looks nice until you look close. Then, grime, moss, and cracks appear. Are their characters that seem good until you look close? 

Brown "Bunny Tail" plant looks attractive in my wife's front yard circular garden, until you look close and see the dreaded wrap-weed invading the plant. Do you have a character that is very attractive until you discover he or she's overly involved in another's life and willing to inhibit their growth?

Our backyard brick paver patio. It can look inviting, if I were to clean it up and blow off the leaves. But not obvious are the dangers: a tangled hose ready to trip, the lid to the septic tank which isn't so bad until during an patio lunch a guest asks what the blue lid is for—"It's where we put guests who are too inquisitive," And, the edge of the bench that is ready to tear-up your pants or scratch your leg. These are all juxtapositions that create tension and lurking drama. Do you have welcoming families that have hidden drama in every corner of their lives. 

There are good things too. On the left is the hostas plant that's been taking up space under our front window for years. Suddenly, we're surprised to find this red fruit hiding under several leaves. Perhaps you have a character that has a hidden gift, or a forgotten treasure in that storage unit about to be auctioned off on reality TV. BEtter get over there and look inside. (On the other hand, this red thing that appeared this summer may be extremely poisonous.) 

Ah, and then there's the irony of golden rod and their daily visitors. Don't get too close to smell the flowers, your nose may never smell again. Do you see it? Irony is like that. You don't see danger until it flies up your nose. 

ARISTOTLE'S PILLARS OF IRONY

This is so important it is the subject of the very first episode of my on-line Storycraft Training Series, described at the end of his blog with a code you can use for 30% PFF the regular price.

Aristotle, in POETICS, is known for his insights on narrative theory. For me the most important is his challenge to write stories that are PROBABLE IMPOSSIBILITIES, not improbable possibilities. The Probable Impossibility (of the main plot) is the story HOOK that maintains the interest of your reader and even maintains YOUR interest was you write.

But the concept of a probable impossibility, or ironic hook, should pervade every aspect of the story. In successful stories you'll find irony in the setting, plot, character arcs, theme (the moral premise) style, and tone. It is well worth your time to think and study this so much that it becomes automatic. When you get this down, it will be hard to write any sentence without juxtaposing opposite concepts.

The wolf looked so dainty in grandma's bonnet.  

HOW A PROPER MORAL PREMISE ENSURES NARRATIVE IRONY

The following two slides (from my workshop on Goals, Subplots and Irony) illustrate how a proper moral premise statement can keep your writing ironic, on all levels.

Dramatic Irony (whether it's found in a word, sentence, paragraph, chapter or novel) involves a goal that a character is trying to achieve. The successful author will set up the story so that the goal seems impossible to achieve. Imagine the hook for the story of David and Goliath: Near naked shepherd boy meets war-hardened, armored giant. Applying natural law and removing the cleverness of the author (or the grace of God), the natural expectation is that David will be quickly dismembered.

But through the cleverness of the author and the grace of God, that is not what happens. 

David slays Goliath and cuts off his head. The opposite of the expectation is achieved.

The moral premise sets up this expectation and the path to unexpected success:

Egotism leads to death and a rout; but

Meekness leads to victory and pursuit. 

The moral premise, of course, articulates inner values and outer consequences. Meekness is metaphored in David's physical appearance. Egotism is metaphored in Goliath's appearance.

Here's a tip: In your writing don't set up the irony by telling your reader what the the inner values are (Egotism and Meekness), that would be TELLING your reader what is going on. Instead, make your reader work by describing the physical appearance of the setting, character, etc, and ensuring that you're establishing a metaphor for the inner values that drive the drama. Juxtaposing egotism and meekness is ironic, but you SHOW the personification of those values in your descriptions of appearance and actions...and of course consequences.   

IRONY IN ACTION
A final reminder of the potential and on-going irony in your stories is this cyclic model.

In achieving our goals, all humans (and all your characters), will continually follow this cyclical sequence:

1. VALUES you hold, will lead you to a...
2. DECISION, that when mature causes you to take an...
3. ACTION, which results in a...
4. CONSEQUENCE. 

In pursuit of a goal you, or your character, will repeat this cycle over-and-over again, until your goal is achieved, or the goal is given up for lost.  You can start anywhere in the cycle, but I like to explain it by starting with an inherent value the character holds. The VALUE and the DECISION are mental processes. They are invisible. (In a novel you still have to SHOW values and decisions through description of physical metaphors or effects—a tense forehead, tight lips, nervous shaking, speechlessness, mismatched socks, or an askew wig.) The Decision causes your character to take an ACTION, which results in some CONSEQUENCE, which are both physical and visible.

Notice that the Value, Decision and Action are ALL under the control of the character (or you). But that the consequence is NOT under the character's control. It is solely determined by Natural Law.

Now, the cycle repeats. The Natural Law consequence informs the person's value by reaffirming the original value (making it stronger), or challenging the value (making it weaker or different). If the consequence is good, the value will be reinforced, if the consequence is bad, the value is devaluated or changed.

The irony occurs on two levels.

• The action may have been meant to change something outside of the character, but the consequence made it worse. That's irony.   

• The action may have been meant to change another person, but the consequence changed the person who took the action. That's irony. 

• The consequence is not controlled by the action. This is the opposite of what we expect. That's irony. 

This cycle is also very present in the Scene part of the Scene-Sequel Model where a character begins with a goal in mind, takes action and pursues the goal, then natural law takes over and a conflict results ending in some disaster. That disaster (which keeps the reader turning pages to find out what happens) is the irony that the character did not expect when the goal was first embraced.

DISCOUNTED OFFER....and Final Example

STORYCRAFT TRAINING DISCOUNT: 
Last year I posted a 10-Episode (7-hour) Video On Demand training series at Vimeo called Storycraft Training.  It's the equivalent of a 2-day workshop. The very first episode deals with IRONY and expands on Aristoteles's 6 PILLARS OF A GREAT STORY. Visitors to this blog may Buy or Rent the Entire Package of 10, for 30% of the regular price. This offer is good from October 15, 2015 through November 14, 2015. You can purchase the sessions and download them to your computer to have forever. Or you can rent and stream them. You may share the promotional code with your friends. The code is "SEEKERVILLE" and the readers of this Seekerville blog are the only ones to know it…so far.

THE FINAL EXAMPLE

Now, there's a contextual reason I mention the memoir. It's really about irony. And I'm using irony in its marketing. One would think that a memoir about a guy's journey of faith would be a serious didactic tome on theology and religion. Well, it is a tome, and it is about religion and theology...but I knew I had to make the journey and the writing ironic. So, let's just say I had some fun. Here's the back cover copy. These are the hooks...also known as early promotional blurbs.

“Thanks, Stan. I now have work for the rest of my life.” (His libel Attorney)

“We'd excommunicate him, but we're not Catholic.”  (His former Pastors)

“We had an accident...and I can’t remember a thing.” (His Nephew)

“None of this is true, and I have the scars to prove it.”  (His Sister)

“I had no part in it. It’s a comma disaster.” (His exhausted Editor)

“I tried to put him in jail, but he was too young.”  (His cop Aunt)

“Just goes to prove that he's just uneducated.”  (His Mom)

“I had no idea what to do. He was beyond me.”  (His Dad)

“Where do they bury the survivors?”  (His Wife)

If that copy is interesting to you, then the use of irony has NO LIMIT.

Blessings

Stan Williams

Moral Premise Workshops Now On-Line

Moral Premise STORYCRAFT TRAINING is now up on it's own mobile adaptive blog.

http://www.storycrafttraining.blogspot.com

SOURCE MATERIAL: The episodes were originally developed for live workshops presented at conferences across the United States, most notably in Los Angeles and S.E. Michigan. 

The training offers extended and updated material based on my Hollywood story structure book: The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue and Vice for Box Office Success and years of story, script, and manuscript consulting. 

The episodic presentations are divided into bit size video chunks for easy assimilation. 

TARGET AUDIENCE: Professional and amateur writers, directors, producers, and storytellers (as well as consumers) of all media and genres will find this Storycraft material helpful.

MEDIA FOCUS: The lessons focus particularly on major motion pictures and occasionally clips from the same for ease of illustration. The episodes predominately contain many colorful graphics that ease learning of sometimes hard to grasp concepts. 

IRONY: VISUAL vs. AURAL...A Fairy Tale

I watched a festival film the other day, which can't yet be posted on-line, in which what we saw and what we heard were opposites in tone. The film is called FAIRY TALE. What we see is a father tucking his little girl into bed and we hear (in Voice Over) the little girl asking her father to tell her a story. He reluctantly agrees and tells the story of a little princess that lives with her mother and father and teddy bear in a castle. They are King and Queen of the whole world and their lives are full of joy.  A soft melodic piano plays in the background.  But what we see, in one long take, is a distraught father tucking in his little girl to bed and giving her a teddy bear, then walking into the next bedroom to find his wife drinking. In frustration he pulls out a suitcase and starts packing. The wife argues with him, and he argues back. They verbally fight and it's clear that they hate each other.  As the VO concludes, "the reason they were so happy is because the King and Queen loved each other very much..." ... the father gets into his car and drives off into the night. FADE OUT.

Another marvelous example of visual/aural irony is a movie we watched on TCM last night (Long Live TCM). The movie is LILI (1953) starring Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer, Jean-Pierre Aumont, with Zsa Zsa Gabor in a minor role. It's a Charles Walter directed and choreographed picture, where the actors wear their emotional motivations on their sleeves. Great piece of visual storytelling and wonderful ironic arcs. The great visual and aural irony is seen/heard in the Paul Berthalet character (played by Mel Ferrer), a ballet dancer who has broken a leg, hates the world, and has taken up puppeteering in a carnival. His inner emotions are portrayed by four of his puppets which represent his emotional conflict, and also which become the masks that he must learn to cast off, and which Lili must learn to see through. She's in love with Paul's ESSENCE but he hides behind these four artificial characters' IDENTITY. Thus we see one thing, his inner hate turmoil, but all we hear (from the puppets) is compassion and love. 

IRONY and NATURAL LAW, INSEPARABLE

I have my expectations of ANNIE. I hope they're not ironic.

Stories are all about Ironic Expectations and Reality. 

This essay is NOT about the upcoming movie ANNIE, but I'm including this image taken of me recently standing next to a lobby display to make a point. The stories of our natural lives can be filled with expectations which may not be the reality...and that can be entertaining or not, depending on how the surprises conform to natural law.

I get to work on some interesting films. Sometimes it's only to read a single, early draft of a movie and comment on it as I did with ANNIE. I saw an early script, sent in my comments, and as is typical I've heard nothing since.... except what we all read in the trades and see in trailers. I'm cautiously excited about the release of ANNIE next month and you can be sure Pam and I will be buying tickets to see it opening weekend. I have expectations.

The traditional story of Annie is filled with expectations that are turned on their nose, but yet, in the hands of crafted storytellers, the seemingly impossible juxtapositions come off as natural, and we the audience buy into the character's lives and situations. To the extent that stories expertly juxtapose impossible situations with natural law reality- - dramatic irony is created that magically engages the audience, even when the audience knows the story beforehand.

So, with that set-up, let me tell you about...

Yesterday, Sunday, November 17, 2014.

It was generally normal...except that I was more observant than normal.

So, I woke up this morning, the Monday after, thinking about the juxtapositions of several things that, seemed normal, and they were, very normal, except they were great examples of dramatic irony that pervades our lives and how observation can lead to an emphasis of time and place in storytelling that will always create interest and engage audiences.

For this exercise, let's use these definitions:

IRONY:

The reality IS NOT the expectation...when you don't think about it. (Gut sense.)

NATURAL LAW

The reality IS the expectation...when you think about it. (Logical sense.)

The cool thing about great stories is that both IRONY and NATURAL LAW must work together. It's not an EITHER/OR situation, because good storytelling makes AND/BOTH true.

Here are examples from my day, just yesterday. How many can you find in your day's activities?

Irony/Natural Law Juxtaposition No. 1 - Regular vs Mob Mass
I attended a MASS MOB here in Detroit. This is where on a particular Sunday people from all over the metroplex descent on an old but beautiful parish buildings for mass... which originally were occupied by capacity crowds, but since populations have moved to the suburbs, the inner-city church are only sparsely attended.

Typical Sunday Attendance - Expected

Mob Mass Sunday Attendance - 2X S.R.O. Reality 

Irony/Natural Law Juxtaposition No. 2 - Exterior vs. Interior
The Mob Mass was held yesterday at Our Lady Queen of Apostles parish in Hamtramck, MI...a multi-ethnic city totally surrounded by Detroit. It's estimated that 19 different languages are spoken within it's 2.1 square miles of land. Historically it was settled by Poles, and this parish still is Polish. As is true of many Catholic Churches the outside is fairly boring and plain. the inside however is transformative. This is the irony and metaphor, too, of Christ and Christianity. On the outside things may look like everything else, but inside, there is something glorious, incarnational, and divine that is not what was expected. Even in movies that are not overtly religious, this illustrates the character transformation that audiences look for in good stories, and that character transformation is often told with sets that transformative like these two pictures. That domed image is a celebrated mosaic, and astounding to see up close.

OLQ of Apostles - INTERIOR

OLQ of Apostles - EXTERIOR

Irony/Natural Law Juxtaposition No. 3 - Mountain Top vs. Village at the Bottom
Also yesterday I took in the St. Cecilia Sing at the Detroit Cathedral. Sponsored by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the afternoon event featured some of the best choral and instrumental groups from around the Detroit Archdiocese. My wife plays flute and sings in one, directed by Glenn Porzadek. The groups were diverse but extremely talented, and the afternoon was punctuated by the organ mastery of the virtuosity of Cathedral organist Joe Balistreri on a 32-rank Austin organ. The glory, warmth, and beauty of the inside concert was in contrast to what was outside when we left. Cold, snow flurries, and a lady who's jeep was blocking traffic because she ran out of gas. I got her some gas and helped her on her way. But, later we saw a car nearly lost in a ditch and repair truck preparing to get it out.  There was the mountain top experience and the natural law reality of the village outside.

The Mountain Top Experience

The Village at the Bottom of the Mountain

Irony/Natural Law Juxtaposition No. 4 - Transfigurations and Demons Transformed
My reference above to the Mountain Top Experience is to a couple stories that are juxtaposed for Ironic and Natural lLaw effect in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 17. First we read about the Transfiguration of Christ on a high mountain. There, the Apostles, Peter, James and John see Jesus in a aura of light talking with Moses and Elijah. So starling is the experience that Peter, James and John want to build a swank spiritual retreat enter on the mountain top to they and others can experience this spiritual high, and no doubt charge admission. (Much like the St. Cecilia Sing, except admission to the concert was free.) But instead, Christ leads them off the mountain top to the reality of the village below where they are confronted by a man with his demon possessed son, begging Jesus for help because Jesus' disciples could not cast out the demon. Jesus says, "O unbelieving and perverse generation...how long do I have to put up with you?" Then Jesus calls the boy over and heals him. The Irony is that without thinking much about the situation the Apostles want to stay up on the Mountain Top, but the Natural Law reality (if they would think about it) is that there's much to do in the village below. There are demons to get rid of and cars to pull out of ditches.

Heavenly Irony - Spiritual Retreats

Village Reality - Demons

Irony/Natural Law Juxtaposition No. 5 - Muzak vs. Life Talent
At the end of the day Pam and I went to The Masters Restaurant in Madison Hts, MI with her choir for dinner. Throughout our dinner in a private dinning room this gentle jazzy trumpet music was coming over what we thought was their muzak system, although it sounded a bit too good for traditional elevator music coming out of cheap ceiling speakers—the expectation. As we were leaving, Glenn walks us to the door and then pulls me into the bar to show me where the music is really coming from. Meet PLEZE RAYBON, playing his muted trumpet and singing with his iPad playback. Pleze is what we call in the industry "talent"...hidden in Madison Hts.  I was mesmerized, came home, purchased and downloaded his two CDs from CDBABY.COM. Listening to them now.

What we expected.... but the irony awaited us.

The reality, the talented Pleze Raybon.

These are the kind of wonderful surprises that stories can provide our audiences and readers if we will only observe the space and time around us, and learn how to use IRONY and NATURAL LAW. Let's review these two organic definitions again...

IRONY - The reality IS NOT the expectation...when you don't think about it. (Gut sense.)
The seemingly impossible plot point.

NATURAL LAW - The reality IS the expectation...when you think about it. (Logical sense.)
The skill of the writer makes the impossible seem not just reasonable, but normal.

Story SECRETS - Suspense, Intrigue, Drama, Irony

This is a reminder to me that SECRETS (irony) in stories are essential to create suspense, intrigue, and a lot of fun for both writer and audience. Secrets held by characters and audiences are foundational to story suspense. This reminder came to me while Pam and I were watching the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers collection of musical comedies. In each of these entertaining films the fun comes from misunderstandings that are secrets held on various levels. Ginger's character thinks Fred's character is someone other than he is, and Fred doesn't know that she thinks he's some one else. The misunderstanding is assisted by a mix up in hotel rooms, ambivalent wives, and over scrupulous assistants. Yes, it's farce, and as we watch we subliminally believe that we'd never fall for such antics in real life, but we allow ourselves to be carried away by the silliness because its funny and we know there's going to be another great dance number (that took 40 takes to get right) just around the next dramatic beat.

There are major secrets (that move the drama forward) and minor ones that add color to the plot. Here are some of the secret structures I've seen. (What are the others?)

To create major suspense let the audience know something critical to the lives of the characters that no character knows. (We're on pins and needles wondering when one or all of the characters will find out the secret, and what will happen as a result.)

To drive the drama forward let the audience know something that only one other character knows, such as the protagonist or the antagonist. (We wonder why she doesn't reveal the truth, or maybe we know why. We see the antagonist preparing to trap the protagonist, and we want to yell out to our hero "Watch out he has a knife (or a cream pie)." But "secretly" we don't want him to or her to know too soon because then the movie would be over.)

To reward the audience for sitting through the long scenes that are boring but essential to the story (I suppose) there are secrets that one or more characters know but that the audience does not until it's revealed. (We see characters plot and plan but without explanation to us. We hope they'll succeed because then we'll be rewarded with some surprise or extravaganza, like the final big dance number on the big white set. )

SECRETS in stories, you see, are things we love, and hope for. They are like Christmas presents. Yes, we want to know what's in the package under the tree, but if we really knew, then Christmas wouldn't be anything to look forward to. So, we shake the package, and try to guess, but we really don't want to open it too soon because we'd spoil the surprise that the secret holds.